which shows a character face-off. if you can't wait until march 9th to see justin timberlake on "saturday night live." have no fear, here's a teaser promo for this week's episode. >> j.t. is back. j.t. and k.t. in the house. >> what? >> i said j.t. and k.t. in the house. >> what? >> j.t. and -- >> i was celebrating. after ten years staysie and clinton are putting away the maholos after ten years. and the san diego zoo is welcoming their newest member ko. the third generation in his family to be born at this particular exhibit. he's already showing off his personality. what a cutie. this is "first look" on

msnbc. stay tuned. "way too early" starts right now. ♪ i would like to thank fellow senators for being supportive of this cause. i would like to thank the members of congress who came over to support this cause. the clerks. the capitol police. the staff of the senate. the doorkeepers. i would go for another 12 hours, to try to break strom thurmond's record. i thank very much for the fo forebearance and i yield the floor. >> there will be order. this will be order expressions

of approval or disapproval are not permitted in the senate. >> round of applause. a good run. sips of water. they add up and nature called for senator rand paul. good morning. i'm bill karins. this is "way too early." thanks for waking up with us. we have a lot to talk about this morning. including a dinner date last night between president obama and a select group of republicans. did they finally bury the hatchet? and who picked up the check? plus the snow quester lives up to its name. a lot of hot air. but a letdown. but first, let's get to the news live here at 5:30 a.m. here in new york city. we'll begin with the senate, john brennan to lead cia.

despite the fillibuster by rand paul. he began speaking before noon yesterday he didn't yield the floor until early this morning. >> i'm not asking any questions about the president's motives. i frankly don't think he'll be killing people in restaurants tonight or in their house tonight. but this is about the rule of law. it's not so much about him. it's not so much about john brennan. it's having rules so that some day if we have the misfortune of electing someone you do not trust, electing someone who might kill innocent people, who might kill people that they disagree with politically or might kill people of another ethnic group, we're protected.

there is no ultimate tablt of me to stop this nomination. i'm already getting tired. and i don't know how long i'll be able to do this. >> as the day worn on, he was joined by a number of republican colleagues. among them, marco rubio, mitch mcconnell. code pink. the tea party-backed group freedom works. our own chuck todd tweeted -- best illustrated by a democrat who has raised similar concerns about the drone program. he joined rand paul. >> i think senator paul and i agree that this nomination, also provides a very important

opportunity for the united states senate to consider the government's rules and policies on the targeted killings of americans. the executive branch should not be allowed to conduct such a serious and far-reaching program by themselves without any scrutiny, because that's not how american democracy works. >> the issue was reignited this week when attorney general eric holder ruled out the possibility of drone strikes on americans. he testified before the senate judiciary committee. >> does the constitution allow a u.s. citizen on u.s. soil who doesn't pose an imminent threat to be killed by the u.s. government? >> i do not believe that -- again, you have to look at all of the facts. the facts that you have given me, i would not think in that situation a use of the drone or a lethal force would be

appropriate. >> general holder, i find it remarkable that in that hypothetical which is deliber e deliberately very simple, you're unable to give a one-word answer, no. >> not everyone shares senator paul's position. an editorial reads in part, calm down, senator, mr. holder is right, even if he doesn't explain the law very well. the u.s. government can not randomly target american citizens on u.s. soil or anywhere else. president obama shared a dinner table with 12 top

republican senators last night in an effort to side-step the gop leadership by searching for compromise in the rank-and-file. it was a friendly evening. senator john mccain expressed appreciation for the invitation. it was a chance to begin the discussion. according to one senator, when dinner was over, saxby chambliss offered to pick up the tab. but the president refused and picked it up out of his own pocket. last night the house easily passed a $982 billion short-term bill to fund the government through september. most of the no votes were democrats. those automatic spending known as the sequester.

meanwhile, house speaker john boehner brushed off the idea that he and the president could work one-on-one to come up with a wide-ranging plan to deal with the fiscal cliff. >> no more deals, no more boehner top-down deals? >> those haven't worked. i don't think it's the way to get to one. you don't have enough member buy it. two people hiding behind closed doors doesn't replicate 535 members of congress or the wisdom of 535 members of congress. or 300 million americans. this should be done out in the open. members should have a chance to participate and i think we need to grow this organically through the house and the senate. >> the senate takes up its own government funding bill next week. former congresswoman gabrielle giffords returned to the tucson grocery store where

she was shot two years ago to make a passionate plea on gun control legislation. they asked mccane to support an emerging bill on universal background checks. >> gabby inspires every single day. you know, often, as she heads off to therapy, one thing she'll say to me is -- >> fight, fight. >> she reminds me each and every day to deny the acceptance of failure. well, gabby has a message for not only senator mccain but all members of congress. >> be bold. be courageous, please support background checks. thank you very much. >> thank you, everybody.

>> senator mccain could play a key role in getting universal gun control legislation passed. negotiations are under way this morning between the united nations and insurgent fighters in syria. they want the release of 21 peacekeepers captured while patrolling the golan heights. it accused the u.n. of collaborating with the syrian government. unless this syrian military leaves a nearby village. u.n. officials believe that peacekeepers remain unharmed. now to business. where the bull rally continues. as the dow closed at a record high for the second straight day. the s&p 500 closed within 2% of its 2007 peak. for more on wall street, let's

check in with steven chadwick. can he make this three days in a row. >> this will go well for the payroll figure. at the end of the week. in terms of valuations, the p ratio of valuation, we're cheaper than we were back in 2007. time warner could be putting time into a separate unit. the publishing arm that has the fortune and time brand, has been struggling as of late. last year made less money. $420 million at an operating income level. than a decade ago. very interesting story in the

making there. back to you, bill. >> appreciate it. live for us in london. have a great day. as always, let us know why you're awake. we'll read those responses later in the show. still ahead on "way too early" -- bad news from the new york yankees. another big slugger is added to a long list of injuries. will they be ready for the regular season? that's next in sports. and marco rubio wins for the filibuster line of the day. stay tuned, "way too early" comes right back.

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i think we should name all of our weather events after what kind they are. and whatever people are talking about on tv at the time. washington d.c. is blanketed in snowquester. or a freak blizzardashian. as we speak, oklahoma is still suffering from pope benedrought. d.c. thought you would be covered in snow, you weren't. in case you missed it, here's what it looked like 20 miles to west of you in virginia, they got the heavy, wet pasted snow.

to your south on i-95 you got 6 inches of snow. d.c., you mostly had rain throughout the day. the storm now is off the coast safely. we're not getting any more rain or snow down there. now new england has to deal with this storm. we'll see some additional snow, the winds are howling out on cape cod. if you're out on the coast you'll feel the winds. friday morning out on cape cod, it's colder in new england. especially interior sections. we'll get some accumulating snow. it's snowing right now pretty good south of boston, down east of providence. that will be mostly be tonight. most of the snow you see today will not accumulate, after dark tonight, into the evening hours,

includes the manchester boston area. hartford and new york city, slushy, mostly on the grass, the roads should be okay. not really expecting much for philly, whatsoever. we'll see how that pans out. on to sports another yankee slugger has gone down with an injury, mark teixeira will be out at least eight to ten weeks after injuring his rest after batting practice. the yankees thought they had teixeira back sooner than later. teixeira has strained his ecu, that's like a college in eastern carolina. he'll miss the first month of the season. hopefully, he'll be back in may. alex rodriguez isn't exhibitioned back until after the all-star break. curtis granderson will miss the

first half of the season with his broken hand. phil hughes, with the back spasm, hopefully he'll be ready for opening day. some more more march madness. sixth-ranked miami, great start to the season, undefeated in acc, but recently, not so good. against georgia tech, who's having a poor year. end of the second, the score tide. time running out. hunter on the drive. he missed it. but in the trees, he gets the tip at the buzzer, on the road, beating miami, huge upset, 71-69. what a tip. that wasn't the only upset of the night, either. all of the good teams lost, it seemed. georgetown fell to villanova. let's go out to the nba. miami heat trying to make it 16

straight wins. at home hosting the magic. the heat need this one. down one, lebron to the hoop with the scoop. he finished it. last-second shot there by the magic. no good. if you believe, this turns out to be lebron's first-ever game-winner playing for the heat in south beach. 97-96. now, he can fly. clippers' blake griffin. let's see that one again. crawford, through the legs, over the head. windmill slam by griffin. the two combined for 48 points. the clippers go on to win. plus, we have a hockey highlight. toronto against ottawa. they're dancing and then, that punch there. ooh.

that was a nasty blow. it was lights out durinski. he goes down hard. he has a concussion. he doesn't return to the game but he is okay. toronto goes on to win 5-4. coming up on "morning joe" senator rand paul looks throw back the curtain on the drone policy. and when we come back here we'll huddle around the water cooler where marco rubio quotes jay-z on the floor of the senate. we'll show you the clip when we come back to "way too early." [ male announcer ] here's a word you should keep in mind. unbiased. some brokerage firms are. but way too many aren't. why? because selling their funds makes them more money. which makes you wonder -- isn't that a conflict? search "proprietary mutual funds."

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at the top of the show we told you about senator rand paul's marathon filibuster session in the senate. he put on a performance but it still fell far short of the all-time record holder. it belongs to republican senator strom thurmond, who spoke for 24 hours, 18 minutes beginning on august 28 z1957 in opposition of civil rights legislation.

welcome back lewis. >> what happened in washington? rain? >> yeah. >> big deal. >> cancel everything when it snows and it rains. we want to a take a closer look at the filibuster. leave it off to tupac fanatic senator marco rubio to shake things up. >> i didn't bring my shakespeare book. let me quote wiz khalifa. a time when many of our colleagues expect to be back home playing hard. this doesn't make sense to me. i go to a movie to the god

father. i'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse. to me, these offers you can't refuse. what this conversation would be like tonight if the president was george w. bush. imagine that for a moment. that takes me back to another modern-day poet by the name of jay-z and what a song he wrote, how seven days can change. things have really changed. >> honestly, he could put a little bit more, like, emphasis and oomph on the rap lyrics. he could have gotten into it a little bit. i thought it was a great idea. i think you get a little jibe in there. you got to do it all the way. let's move on. the dance craze that has been sweeping the country for weeks now, 71-year-old senator mitch mcconnell, just now caught on

"to the harm harlem shake." a group of college students reportedly filmed the video for the campaign. with this, mitch mcconnell, you have officially killed "the harlem shake." this is, like, this is really delayed. this is really delayed. >> it's killed so bad it's coming back. >> i thought that it was a decent video. ever wondered what a famous person would sound like, conan o'brien has. >> we melded hillary clinton and steven tyler. >> i just want to tell you, i'm going to tell you to keep it together. because the whole world is watching you. >> taylor swift and harry styles.

>> i don't really talk about my love life. i kind of sing about it a lot. music is a way of understanding what i'm feeling. >> finally, you asked for it. president obama and nicki minaj. >> i would like to everyone to know how singing, lo and behold there are tons of girls and tons of boys that appreciate all of that craziness. >> is that legal? >> you can't go wrong. y >> how about you and i morphed together. >> go ahead and read the tease. >> i have an e-mail from your girlfriend. >> sorry, i can't do lunch today. >> thanks, bill. still ahead on "way too early" -- why are you awake?

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